Europe and Central Asia Care Forum 2026
Date:
Europe & Central Asia
CARE FORUM 2026
Transforming Care for Inclusive, Resilient, and Gender-Equal Economies
Overview
The UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia is convening the inaugural Europe and Central Asia Care Forum. As the first dedicated regional platform of its kind, the Forum will advance transformative, gender-responsive, and rights-based care systems.
The primary objective is to drive a systemic shift from fragmented care services toward integrated care economies. By doing so, the Forum aims to accelerate women’s economic empowerment, ensure decent work, and foster inclusive, sustainable economic growth across the region.
The event will gather decision-makers and experts from across Europe and Central Asia, including government representatives, international financial institutions, feminist economists, academia, civil society, trade unions, UN agencies, and the private sector. Featuring the United Kingdom Government as a key strategic partner, the Forum will facilitate cross-regional exchange by drawing on policy experiences from Europe, Central Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Imperative for Care
Care work—whether for children, older persons, people with disabilities, or the sick—is the foundation that sustains societies and economies. However, it remains largely unrecognized, undervalued, and disproportionately carried out by women. This unequal distribution poses a structural barrier to women’s equal participation in the labor market, leadership, and public life.
The Time Poverty Gap
Globally, women spend 3.2 times more time per day on unpaid care than men (an average of 4 hours 25 minutes compared to 1 hour 23 minutes).
Macroeconomic Value
If assigned a monetary value, women’s unpaid care work would exceed 40% of GDP in some countries—contributing more to the economy than sectors such as manufacturing, trade, or transport.
Recognizing, reducing, and redistributing care work is central to achieving gender equality and unlocking macroeconomic prosperity.
Thematic Focus Areas
Care, Gender Equality, and Macroeconomic Transformation
Care Systems across the Life Course
Decent Work and the Care Workforce
Financing Care
Transforming Social Norms & Mitigating Backlash
Care as Part of the EU Accession Process
Advancing the Care Agenda in Times of Crisis
The Importance of Data on Care
Welcome Message
Care is at the centre of everyone’s lives and the glue that keep societies together. It is in the everyday, in homes, in families, in communities, and where inequalities are most deeply felt and most persistently reproduced. Across Europe and Central Asia, women spend three times more of their lives on unpaid care and domestic work. This is a matter of power, opportunity and choice. It means less time to lead, to earn, to participate in public life, and to shape the decisions that affect their futures. It is also a space of profound inequalities that we need to reverse.
This is precisely why we are coming together around the Europe and Central Asia Regional Care Forum. Because without addressing care, we cannot advance gender equality. We need care to be recognized, reduced and redistributed and we need care systems, policies, investments and reinvented social norms, that make equality the default, not the exception.
The Care Forum, the first of its kind in the region, brings together experience, vision and leadership from governments, civil society, the academia and the UN system. It is more than a platform for dialogue; it is a compass to guide us and accelerate action toward transformative, gender-responsive and inclusive care systems, in line with Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development.
We are proud to host you in Istanbul, a city that has long connected epochs and civilizations, as we come together to build connections of our own: between policies and people, between evidence and action, and between today’s commitments and tomorrow’s realities.
UN Women Europe and Central Asia team welcomes you wholeheartedly.
Belen Sanz Luque
UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia
Forum Agenda
DAY 1: 11 MAY 2026
MC: Maria Ramos TRT World London Anchor & International Moderator
Welcome coffee/Registration
Opening and Welcome Remarks
Belén Sanz Luque UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia
Session #1: High-Level Governmental Segment
Session #2: Keynote speech: The Thousand Faces of Care
María Ángeles Durán Research Professor, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Session #3: Fireside Dialogue: The Care Economy through a Feminist Lens
Moderator: Maria Ramos, TRT World London Anchor
Ipek Ilkkaracan Professor of Economics at Istanbul Technical University Raquel Coello Cremades Policy Advisor Macroeconomics and Global Lead on Care, UN Women Valeria Esquivel Coordinator Gender in Employment Group and Employment Policies and Gender Specialist at ILO
Coffee Break 1
Session #4: Panel Discussion - Dialogue on Global and Regional Normative frameworks for Care (with the participation of UN Regional Commissions and regional intergovernmental institutions)
Sub-panel 1: Global and Normative Frameworks
Moderator: Maria Ramos, TRT World London Anchor
Paul Ladd Principal Adviser to the Executive Secretary, Director of Sustainable Development, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Ana Güezmes Director of the Division for Gender Affairs, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Rouba Arja Social Affairs Officer, Gender Justice, Population and Inclusive Development Cluster, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) Channe Lindstrøm Oguzhan Social Affairs Officer, Social Development Division, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Section, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
Sub-panel 2: Translating Commitments into Practice
Keynote Speaker/Moderator: Bibiana Aido Almagro, UN Women Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean
María Guijarro Ceballo Secretary of State for Equality and the Eradication of Violence, Spain Katarina Ivanković Knežević Director for Social Rights and Inclusion in the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission (online) Valentina Perrotta Deputy of the Directorate of the National Care Secretariat of Uruguay
Lunch Break
Motivational Speech: The Invisible Weight of Care: From "Helping" to "Partnering"
Elif Doğan Feminist Writer & Commentator
Session #5: Financing Care Systems - From Public Budgets to Scaled Investment
Moderator: Ermira Lubani, Programme Specialist, UN Women
Milva Ekonomi Member of the Albanian Parliament as a representative of the Durrës Constituency Felicia Bechtoldt State Secretary at the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Moldova Amy Elizabeth Sunseri Gender and Social Inclusion Expert, IFC Ekin Ilke Kelesoglu Officer for Sustainable Development Support, AFD Dr. Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat Director of the Division of Health Systems at World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe Ceren Topgül Kadın Emeğini Değerlendirme Vakfı (Oxfam KEDV) | Foundation for the Support of Women's Work
Coffee Break 2
Session #6: Panel Discussion: Localization of Care Agenda
Moderator: Ana Moreno, Technical Secretary, Global Alliance for Care
Xabier Legarreta Vicecounselor of Wellbeing , Youth and Demographic Challenge, the Basque Government Miren Elgarresta Executive Director of Emakunde Enif Yavuz Dipsar Head of Social Services Department, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Edi Gusia Executive Director of the Agency for Gender Equality /Office of the Prime Minister, Kosovo [1] Boran Ivanovski Program Director, NALAS
[1] All references to Kosovo on this website should be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).
Parallel Session: Counting the Invisible: Time-Use Data to Drive Care Change
Moderator: Brunella Canu, Programme Coordinator, UN Women
Paata Shavishvili Deputy Executive Director, National Statistic Office of Georgia Vytautas Peciukonis Research Officer, European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) Jessamyn Encarnacion Deputy Chief a.i., Research and Data Section, UN Women (online) Mauricio Rodríguez Abreu General Director of Sociodemographic Statistics at INEGI (online) Natia Mestvirishvili Data and Research Analyst, UN Women Georgia
DAY 2: 12 MAY 2026
Session #7: Decent Work, Migration and Care Workforce
Moderator: Yasser Ahmed Hassan, Director of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Office for Türkiye
Emine Erdem Chairperson of the Executive Board, SEDEFED Giulia Lanfredi Project Officer, Eurocarers Ina Charkviani Co-founder and Chairwoman, Trade Union of Domestic and Care Workers in Georgia Prof. Lazar Jovevski Advisor to the Prime Minister on Labour and Economic Affairs and Proffesor of Labour Law, North Macedonia Annalisa Vallone International Development Coordinator, Cooperatives Europe
Session #8: Advancing Care Agenda in Times of Crisis and Conflict
Moderator: Raquel Coello Cremades, Policy Advisor on Macroeconomics and Global Lead on Care, UN Women
Jennifer L. Solotaroff Senior Social Development Specialist & Europe and Central Asia Region Gender Coordinator, World Bank Lina Abou-Habib Director of the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship, American University of Beirut Dr. Yuliya Sporysh Founder and Director of NGO Girls (ГО «Дівчата») Gül Erdost Women’s Coalition Türkiye Representative
Parallel Session: Care in EU Accession session
Moderator: Laurence Gillois, Deputy Director, UN Women Brussels Liaison Office
Serena Daoli Policy Officer, European Commission, Directorate-General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood (DG ENEST) Ms. Tatiana Cucuietu, MP Member of European Integration Committee, Moldova Milva Ekonomi Chair, Economic, Employment and Finance Commission in the Parliament of Albania Diana Kobas Deskovic Private Sector Biljana Pejovic Director for Gender Equality, Gender Equality Machinery, Montenegro
Coffee Break 1
Session #9: Care under Pressure: Transforming Social Norms in the Context of Gender Backlash
Moderator: Paro Chaujar, Policy Advisor on Social Norms, UN Women
Steliana Nedera Director, UNDP Regional Hub Istanbul Dr. Gabriela Alvarez Minte Regional Gender Advisor, UNFPA Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Lara Aharonian Co-Founder, WRC Armenia Dr. Olena Strelnyk Senior Researcher, Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; head of research department at the CSO “Gender in detail" Sébastien Vauzelle Head of Secretariat, Local2030 Coalition
Lunch Break
Motivational Speech: The Care We Must Share
Vera Ora Psychiatrist & Keynote Speaker
Session #10: Demographic Change, Care Needs, and the Power of Data
Moderator: Klaus Beck, Deputy Regional Director, UNFPA Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office
Paul Ladd Principal Advisor to the Executive Secretary, Director of Sustainable Development, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Paata Shavishvili Deputy Executive Director, National Statistic Office of Georgia Vytautas Peciukonis Research Officer, European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) Lea Savoy Research Officer, Data Pop Alliance Dr. Gozde Corekcioglu Ishakoglu Assistant Professor of Economics, Ozyegin University
Session #11: Closing Plenary
Elisa Fernandez UN Women Deputy Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia
Media
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